Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,

"Life becomes easier and more beautiful when we see the good in other people". Roy T Bennett

I read this quote the other day and when you think about it if you see the good in people around you, you surround yourself with goodness. If you see only the bad you surround yourself with badness.

People who see the good in people make great coaches—they see a talent, they eliminate the negative they accentuate the positive and produce a champion.

I have coached many teams in a number of sports over a number of years, I coached a St Mary’s rugby team that lost one game in two years and won both the finals we played by more than 30 points.

But most people would have had success with that team—they were two classes better that the opposition.

I also coached a girls cricket team where only a couple of players had played before. To misquote a fa-mous Australian cricketer they could not bowl and could not field. But I saw strengths in each player. Our one good player, an Otago under 21 rep was also a great leader and a good person who really encouraged the team. We progressed and eventually won a couple of games. But the best thing about that team is that now (and remember a lot of the originals have left school) we have five who still play and now they really enjoy playing.

We saw the good in the people, not the fact that they couldn’t hold a bat. You can teach someone to hold a bat but you can’t teach a positive attitude and a will to learn.

Have a great week,

Mike Brosnahan